Internet based laboratory experiments for the future generation of students

2015. June 18.

Department of Mechatronics, Optics and Mechanical Engineering at BME arranged a workshop, where Department of Industrial Engineering, of Narvik University College participated actively.

The participants were from six different countries (Brazil, China, Hungary, Norway, Pakistan and Venezuela). The topic of the international workshop was in relation with internet based experiments/laboratory exercises for mechanical engineering students.

Picture from workshop on 27th of May 2015

With the advancement in technology and being a reputable technology institute in Northern Norway, it is important for us to utilize the latest e-learning methodologies. As we have experienced from our experience that there is a constant need of the students, to organize the education to be more practical. Hence one of the solution to this problem is to increase the number of practical laboratory exercises. In most of the cases, the laboratory equipment is controlled from a computer and the analysis of the results is also done by computer, hence this form the basis to allow to the measurement to be controlled/executed from a distant place.

There is a similar trend in the industry also. Expensive and complex equipment’s producers are usually located in a distant part of the world, then where the actual machine is installed. Sometimes it is preferred to do the supervision, maintenance by remote monitoring and remote help. This results in cost reduction.

Internet based experiments/measurements can be linked with remote diagnostics which is a hot topic in industrial discussions. The Internet Based experiments/measurements could be a solution to resolve the problem to minimize the purchase of valuable equipment between the co-operating institutions. In traditional measurement setup, student are executing measurements in a sequential, seated manner but it is generally observed that most of the students do not get enough time to fully understand the experimentation, the capabilities of the equipment, because the next group is already waiting for its’ turn. Internet based measurements could be a reasonable solution for this. Nevertheless, the distant measurements could be accessed through the day, and minimizing the need of human supervisor. The department of MOEI in Budapest is already utilizing such experimental system/setups. The students get familiar with the equipment/experiment during a traditional course and the actual measurements can be executed during their preferred time even from their personnel computer. However if the number of students are quite large then the job ID, queueing and submission can be added in the e-learning system with an easy administrative system.

At the end of workshop, there was a MoU Signing Ceremony to continue cooperation between Department of Industrial Engineering at Narvik University College, Department of MOEI at BUTE, and Energy Agency non-profit organization. This agreement will hopefully lay the foundation to pursue a common objective in relation to develop and adapt new internet based measurements related with engineering experiments. This will allow student from Narvik University College to execute measurements in BUTE and vice-versa. We hope that from 2015/2016 students will also have the possibility to supervise and to measure an intelligent passive house located at the Energy Agency.